Ken Bono, JR Quinahan and Samigue Eman headline list of aspirants for this year’s PBA Draft
Saturday, July 21st, 2007A total of 47 PBA aspirants have filed their applications for this year's PBA Rookie Draft set on August 19 at Market Market in Taguig. This year's draft is touted to be the deepest in years that could rival the 2003 Draft and the 1989 Draft.
UAAP MVP Ken Bono, Baby Shaq JR Quinahan and 6-10 Samigue Eman led all big men in the draft, that also include Fil-Am Joe Devance, ex-Ateneo stars JC Intal, Macky Escalona, and Doug Kramer, San Beda’s Yousif Aljamal, UP's Marvin Cruz, De LaSalle's Ryan Araña, Reed Juntilla, Fil-Am Ryan Reyes and ex-UST star Jojo Duncil. Because of the incredible depth of this year's draft, the league is thinking of expanding the rounds from the usual two-round draft the past two years to possibly three.
Devance, however, is not yet officially in the draft as he has yet to submit his confirmation papers from the Department of Justice. If he makes it, he will bring another quality big man in the draft pool.
The Welcoat Dragons will pick first after winning the draft lottery over the Coca Cola Tigers. The Coke pick however, has been seeded to San Miguel Beer to complete the trade several years ago (Dale Singson trade if you can remember). This early, Welcoat is eyeing University of Mindanao giant Samigue Eman to be the team's first pick overall. San Miguel is reportedly interested with JC Intal to complete their Ateneo Blue Eagles connection.

Just barely two days after being shipped to Red Bull, Rommel Adducul finds himself in the land of the Giants.
News around the league have the Red Bull Barakos franchise player Enrico Villanueva on the trading block. Villanueva has been struggling this season for Red Bull, and the emergence of former Shell benchwarmer Carlo Sharma have made him somewhat expendable.
The Gin Kings came with all guns ablazed to complete a rout of the Beermen 146-111 to even the championship series of the 2006-07 PBA Talk N Text Philippine Cup at 2 wins apiece. Mark Caguioa, Eric Menk and Rudy Hatfield conspired in 13-3 run in the opening quarter to give the Gin Kings a 32-24 lead which they never relinquished until the final buzzer. Six Gin Kings scored in double figures led by Caguioa's 25 points. Dondon Hontiveros paced the struggling Beermen with 20 points. Danny Seigle and Dorian Pena had 18 points each. Tugade was held to only 4 points after scoring 25 points the previous game. The Beermen have already lost twice in a row, in lopsided fashion at that. Games will resume on February 21 (Wednesday).
Brgy Ginebra knew they had to win game 3 to help save the series for the Gin Kings and win they did. Fil-am Rafi Reavis rebounded mightily from his lousy game 2 performance with a 13-point 15-rebound game to help Brgy Ginebra to a 131-101 rout of San Miguel Beer in the 2006-07 PBA Talk N Text Philippine Cup finals. Injured forward Eric Menk finally played significant minutes and contributed 12 points and 11 points. Rudy Hatfield, Mark Caguioa, Ronald Tubid and Jayjay Helterbrand all scored in double figures with the H-bomb leading the way with 28 points. San Miguel was paced by leading scorer Danny Seigle with 26 points. Lordy Tugade was effective from the outside with 25 points but couldn't find enough support from his teammates. Dondon Hontiveros was the missing link with only 5 points after scoring in double figures the previous two games.
Danny Seigle and Mark Caguioa engaged in a fiery combat but when the smoke of the battle cleared, it was San Miguel on top 104-101. The Beermen gain a 2-0 lead in the 2006-07 PBA Talk N Text Philippine Cup finals heading into game 3. Rafi Reavis bungled two free throws that could have tied the game at 101 with 24 seconds left on the clock. The Gin Kings still had an opportunity to win the game but with 12 seconds left but Reavis elected to shoot from three point distance as time ran out. The Beermen led by double digits most of the game but a Ginebra rally in the fourth quarter made the game interesting in the end game. The Gin Kings cut the deficit to one 95-96 with over a minute a left in the clock but couldn't squeeze through with a win.
Lordy Tugade played his best game in a San Miguel uniform and Danny Seigle continued his offensive assault firing 27 and 22 points, respectively to dominate the Brgy Ginebra Gin Kings 118-94 in game 1 of the All-Filipino Finals. Tugade scored 18 of his 27 points, spiked by three triples in the first half to help the Beermen pull away from a tight first quarter. Dorian Pena had 18 points and 12 rebounds. Mark Caguioa led the way for the Gin Kings with 30 points. Rudy Hatfield contributed 22 points and 8 rebounds.
The Talk N Text Phonepals pounced on a listless Red Bull squad 124-111 to cop third place in the tournament. The Phonepals were led by Asi Taulava, Anthony Washington and Harvey Carey - all scoring with at least 22 points. Cyrus Baguio was the lone bright spot for Red Bull with 27 points. It was the highest finish for the Phonepals in the All-Filipino tournament since figuring in the finals with Ginebra two years ago. It was also the highest finish attained by coach Derrick Pumaren since he coached the championship-winning squad of Sunkist back in 1995.
There wasn't anyone on the Ginebra bench who could contain Danny Seigle and you know that when Seigle explodes, San Miguel usually wins. Dynamite Danny finished with 36 points and was ably backstopped by gunner Dondon Hontiveros who had his own explosive night with 31 points to lead the Beermen to series clinching win 119-115 over Red Bull and advance to the 2006-07 PBA Talk N Text Philippine Cup finals opposite the Brgy Ginebra Gin Kings. Red Bull last lead 69-66 on a Larry Fonacier three-pointer early in the third quarter but Seigle conspired with Willie Wilson to complete an 8-0 run with eight minutes left in the third to push the Beermen on top. Enrico Villanueva's 17 points lead four other Barakos in double digits.
Red Bull bucked the ejection of coach Yeng Guiao and leaned on guard Celino Cruz' heroics in the end game to win game 6 104-100 and arranged a sudden-death game 7 on Wednesday. Guiao was ejected late in the second quarter on two technical fouls triggered by his collision with Beermen Dondon Hontiveros. Cruz scored nine of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, including two free throws that iced the game with 4 seconds left. It was also Cruz' three pointer that pushed Red Bull to a two-point lead they would later increase to seven 102-95 with less than two minutes left. A late San Miguel rally anchored on Danny Seigle and rookie LA Tenorio cut the deficit to just two 100-102. San Miguel had a chance to forged overtime but Danny Seigle missed a potential game-tying shot off Enrico Villanueva allowing Red Bull to escape with a win. The winner of the Wednesday game will face crowd favorite Ginebra Gin Kings in the All Filipino finals while the loser meets Talk N Text in the one-game battle for third.
Rudy Hatfield had a monster game (28 points, 12 rebounds) but it was the spitfirish guard Ronald Tubid who ignited the breakaway that finally put away the Talk N Text Phonepals 98-89. Mark Caguioa went down on leg cramps with still four minutes left on the clock but Tubid more than made up for his absence with several heads up play. Tubid got the goat of everyone, including Macmac Cardona who was ejected late in the third for kicking him in the tummy while he was still lying down. Cardona's ejection dealt a serious blow to the Phonepals' hopes of tying the series. Caguioa tallied only 15 points, his lowest in the series but Ginebra reserves Tubid, Sunday Salvacion and Billy Mamaril atoned for his lousy performance. Talk N Text led 57-47 early in the third quarter but a big Ginebra spurt led by Mamaril keyed a 28-14 run to grab the lead 75-66 at the end of the third quarter. A three-pointer by Anthony Washington midway in the final canto pushed the Phonepals to their last lead of the game 83-79. Eleven straight points by the Gin Kings led by Hatfield and Salvacion, however, broke the spirits of the Phonepals. The Gin Kings will now be making their 16th finals appearance, including eight in the All-Filipino. The Gin Kings await the winner of the San Miguel-Red Bull semifinals showdown on Wednesday.



